. >> obama: so while i'm willing to compromise and find common ground over how to reduce our deficits, america cannot afford another debate with this congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they've already racked up. >> bill: so the question -- so why should the president entertain this notion that the debt ceiling which republicans voted for 19 times under george w. bush without a peep, you know, why should he entertain the notion that suddenly this is a matter of big negotiations? >> well, he's trying to say that he shouldn't but unfortunately the house republicans have the majority in congress. unfortunately for him, so when he says he doesn't want to debate it and negotiate over it, he is running up against the fact that people who have the power in the house do want to debate it and that can cause problems. he certainly is pushing this idea here to try to remove this from the realm of what he wants and the american people see as rational debate. he used a lot of words yesterday that were very strong to try to make people see this as what he called an absurd way of